Page 37 of The German Mother

She waited patiently, but Viktor continued with the farce of not being able to remember. ‘No…I’m sorry,’ he said, smiling, ‘you’ll have to remind me.’

‘Oh, Viktor, stop teasing! I’ll have to ask you if you won’t ask me…’

‘Then go ahead,’ he said.

‘All right.’ She gazed up into his hazel eyes. ‘Viktor Labowski…will you marry me?’

He pulled her towards him and held her tightly to his chest. ‘I thought you’d never ask,’ he whispered into her hair.

Leila suggested she should break the happy news to her parents immediately.

‘I’ll come with you,’ said Viktor.

‘No,’ she told him, ‘I want to do this alone. Come for supper tomorrow and we can celebrate properly.’

‘Maybe we’ll be commiserating,’ he said. ‘After all, they might not agree to the marriage.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she scolded him. ‘I’m twenty-two and an independent woman. Of course they’ll agree.’

But as she walked back to her parents’ apartment that evening, she did wonder if they would be as happy about her impending marriage as she was.

Coming into the hall that evening, she heard the familiar, comforting sounds of her parents chatting in the sitting room. Hanging up her coat, she listened as her mother scolded her father gently about spilling his pipe tobacco on the arm of the chair. Leila stood for a moment, realising that, if she were to marry, she would soon be leaving this place – that these sounds and sights would no longer be part of her daily life – and she had a momentary flash of sadness.

‘There you are,’ said her mother as Leila entered the sitting room. ‘We were just wondering if you’d be back in time for dinner.’

‘Yes…sorry I’m a bit late.’

Her father was standing in front of the fireplace, throwing a log onto the fire. ‘Do you want a drink?’ he asked.

‘Yes, thank you…if there’s time before we eat?’

He poured her a little glass of wine from a cut-glass decanter.

‘Prost,’ she said, taking a sip. ‘I have some good news.’

‘Oh?’ Her mother looked up.

‘I’m getting married…to Viktor.’

Hannah’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Oh…how wonderful. When was this decided?’

‘Just now…I asked him in the park.’

‘You asked him?’ interjected her father. ‘Isn’t that the wrong way round?’

‘Oh, that doesn’t matter,’ said Leila casually. ‘He’d asked me before and I said I wanted to wait a little. Well, I’ve waited quite a while now and I know it’s the right thing to do.’

‘If you’re sure?’ Her mother sounded anxious.

‘Of course I’m sure…why wouldn’t I be?’

Leila glanced at her father, hoping for a more positive response.

‘Well…he seems very nice,’ Levi began, ‘but is he perhaps…a little old for you?’

‘Oh, Papa – don’t be silly. I’ve met a man I adore and who adores me. He makes me feel safe, secure and admired. We work in similar areas – we understand one another. We are two sides of the same coin. What more could I ask?’

Hannah laid her needlework aside and glanced over at Levi, who nodded. She stood up, holding her hands out to her daughter. ‘What more indeed? Darling Leila – of course, we give you our blessing.’